WASHINGTON — For Al Gore and Congress, two years and a presidential election make a big difference when it comes to tackling global warming.

The bottom line: less theatrics, more substance and, well, a warmer reception. Even Republican senators seemed prepared to accept the aggressive course of action Gore proposed.

In early 2007, Gore played the role of a fired-up prophet, determined to spur Congress to curb greenhouse gas emissions. GOP reaction ranged from respect to disparagement, with Trent Lott calling his notions “garbage,” Larry Craig mocking Gore’s Academy Award-winning “performance” and James Inhofe belittling the reality of climate change.

Not so on Wednesday. The former vice president and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee traded ideas and compliments and actually listened carefully to each other.

And Gore’s essential message was well received, that despite economic woes, this is the year to enact mandatory limits on carbon emissions and reach a global climate agreement to reduce heat-trapping gases and slow down deforestation.

“I don’t want to be chest-beating about it, but our country is the only country that can lead the world community” on climate change, Gore told the committee.

President Barack Obama this week reversed eight years of inaction on climate change by the Bush administration, ordering an increase in the fuel efficiency of vehicles and signaling that California and other states will be able to enforce tough emissions standards.

In the Senate, Lott and Craig are gone, Inhofe is one of the few members who deny the consensus of climate science, and Democrats increased their majority to 58, or 59 if Al Franken of Minnesota is seated.

Even the weather jokes seemed lame this time. Two years ago, Gore testified during a snowstorm, and Inhofe wondered, “Where’s global warming when you need it?” Washington experienced its first snow of the winter Tuesday, and the online Drudge Report was ready with a headline: “THE SNOW MUST GO ON: GORE BRAVES WINTER STORM TO TESTIFY ON GLOBAL WARMING.”

But this time, the accumulation of climate change data weighed on senators who want to see a renewed global effort to address the problem.

Obama said he wants to revive U.S. leadership on climate change, heading into an international conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December designed to produce a successor treaty to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that the United States turned against.

Gore urged Congress to adopt the huge stimulus package as drawn up in the House, saying it will give renewable and alternative fuels a major boost and build a better electric “smart” grid. That would make it easier for Congress to pass a cap-and-trade bill, with a system for utilities and other companies that pollute less than the limit to trade or sell permits to those over the limit.

If Congress does that, Gore said, “the United States will regain its credibility and enter the treaty talks with a renewed authority to lead the world.”

One Republican, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, said he expected a cap-and-trade bill to pass this year, although he favored a tax on carbon, as long as taxpayers are reimbursed through the payroll tax.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., said he wanted a strong climate treaty and praised Obama’s inaugural speech for “restoring science to its rightful place in the operation of our government.”

While Corker and other Republicans stressed the need for more nuclear energy to reduce reliance on oil and coal, Gore said nuclear energy could play a role, but the size and cost of new nuclear plants made him “skeptical” that enough private investment would be available.

The former vice president highlighted his testimony with new slides and video clips — sort of a sequel to his Oscar-winning “An Inconvenient Truth” — showing the latest data and images on melting polar ice and other climate change indicators. He said the latest data showed the planet was “in grave danger.”

“This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization, and it’s rushing at us with such speed and force,” Gore warned.

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